The Getaway
by GayleForce12
Summary: A stressful month drives House to take Cuddy on a beach retreat. Just some fluff. Enjoy!


A/N: Hey! So I'm back! Sorry, it has taken so long. The husband and I took a vacation and then I had some medical issues come up that I had to deal with. Those are still being worked through but things are more settled now.

This story was written from a prompt from a Great Courses course. "Take an image and write a story of how it came to be." I gathered inspiration from the cover photo. I'm trying to improve my writing ability so this story is written a bit differently. It might be a bit rough but I hope you find it entertaining.

I am still working on the Love in All Things series. The second story has quite a bit written and a rough outline. It will be written in the same style as the first. Looking forward to posting it!

The Getaway

On a particularly warm January Sunday in a sweet little cottage, I wake up to the sound of waves crashing on the shore. This was not how I had planned to spend this weekend. The past month has been so hectic. It was the end of the fiscal year so I had to review the expenditures from the year and approve the budget for the upcoming year. I'm sure the financial team had begun to think I had taken them captive. We had been over and over the numbers. The department heads, most of them at least, present their yearly figures as a testament that they should receive more funding the following year. I'm lucky if I get anything from Diagnostics. Unfortunately, most departments don't get what they want. That just adds more to my plate during the busiest time of year.

Straightening out the finances for the year is a huge job but the backlash and challenges to obtain more donations, consume most of my time in December. My office is filled with employee after employee demanding some sort of change in funding for their department. Most are simply dealt with but others can cause quite a headache. Hourani had threatened his resignation unless various changes were made concerning his department. That took several days of meetings, dinners, and much negotiation before the matter was resolved.

House, thankfully, might be an ass most of the year but usually content with his funding. The one issue I can count on him not giving me trouble over. That doesn't mean that he made life easy for me. But then again he was more like a child who caused trouble because he wants attention. We've been together for over two years now. The special attention he gets at home has cut down on his antics at the hospital. He and his department still took up far more of my time than any other department.

The first part of December was filled with business and meetings. Then there was Rachel's birthday, her 5th birthday. I can't believe how big she has gotten. Then Hanukkah, the Christmas Gala, and New Years marked the end of the madhouse. I spent so many days away from Rachel this time of year. I leave for work even earlier in the hopes that I might get home in time to spend time with her and Greg. It never fails that my day was stretched far beyond her bedtime. That isn't how it's supposed to be. It's not how I want it to be. When I got home before she went to bed, I was too exhausted to give her the attention she deserved. House really surprised me, watching Rachel isn't his favorite thing but he watched her without much complaint. Of course, he did have his demands and usually I don't mind his particular type of demands but I was so tired it became just another chore. His complaints were merely in jest. They may have been partially true but nothing that he wasn't willing to suffer through. Things have really changed between him and Rachel in the past two years.

I was looking forward to enjoying this weekend with my family. It would be the first totally task free weekend in well over a month. We were going to cook together, play games, read Rachel some books and enjoy time together, House had other plans though. He told me, when we left yesterday, that we were just going on a drive. Julia took Rachel, for what I thought was a couple of hours, but this explains the smile and glint in her eyes when she picked her up. He had reserved us this little cottage on the beach, packed me and Rachel a bag, and planned all of this without my knowledge.

This morning is warm for January, but still overall chilly. The sky is covered with grey clouds. The waves, hitting the shore, are so soothing. If he hadn't have taken my phone with him before he left I'm sure I would be checking emails by now. Instead, all I have to do is sit here and enjoy my tea by the window that overlooks the view of the beach. Two years ago a slow, eventless, and silent morning like this would have driven me stir crazy, but our relationship has taught me the value of moments like these.

I hear the door rattle from across the cottage. It could only mean that he has returned with breakfast.

"These apples aren't going to cut up themselves."

He's such an ass. But that's exactly what I want. I want the man that I have known for the last two decades. I want the man that has challenged me and bickered with me and fought passionately for his patients. I love him. We settle down at the table and enjoy our breakfast. I hate that he can eat donuts every morning and not gain a pound. His hand lays comfortingly on top of mine. I can't help but take in the rare sight of him at peace as he gazes out the window.

As I finish my last slice of apple he stands and tosses my jacket at me. "Let's take a walk."

I can't help but smile as we make our way out the glass door onto the beach. Why did it take me twenty years to tie him down? Why was I so stubborn upon insisting that I find a "traditional man" to fulfill a "traditional family?" Nothing about my life is traditional and nor did I expect it to be...so why? Both of us could have avoided so much misery if we had just given it a chance from the beginning. Once he said that he had planned to call me after our night together in med school. I hate him for that. I hate that it didn't happen. But also that I can't help but think that comment was just another ploy to gain my affection. I'll never know whether or not it was and with that my smile fades.

"What's with the long face?" He asks as those beautiful blue eyes pierce my heart.

"Uhh...It's just cold out here." I have to look away before he sees the truth in my eyes. Although the wind did offer a bitter breeze it was quite warm for January.

"It's not that bad...but if you are going to be a wimp you can take my coat." He shrugged off his jacket and shoved it at me.

I love his leather jacket but it swallows me up, which causes a grin to grace his face. Once that was a rare sight but now it's far more common. Even now though...it doesn't last, the pain of his past comes to swipe away the hope for this happiness to last. I hate that for him, but then again...I'm glad he's willing to stick with it as long as it lasts. Who knows what may happen.

My hand finds the end of the leather sleeve to hold his long narrow fingers. I didn't expect him to crave touch as he does but he takes advantage of it as often as he can. There's a heart beneath that cold callused veneer. Today is one of the rare days he lets me deep behind the walls he's built.

"I missed you." I hear him say through a near whisper, looking forward to the beach in front of us.

"You saw me every day, at work and then at home."

He turns at my words to face me and grasp both my hands. "I have come to need you in my life. It has been a long time since I've let anyone be that important to me. I need you and Rachel."

This confession takes my breath away and his eyes fall away and fill with fear. Its the same fear that has haunted him the entirety of the time I've known him. I reach for his rough cheek to turn his face back to mine.

"You're far too superstitious to be an atheist." All I get in return is a confused look.

"You think if you admit to your happiness that it'll be stripped away from you. Sure, we won't be this happy every day and there'll even be rough patches but fate is not after you Greg.

"What makes you so sure that it'll last?" His expression is guarded and gruff, with his brow furrowed.

"I'm not, but I do know a few things. One, that even if we lose all this I will always be thankful for the moments we've had like these. But also, that even after all the years and all the horrible things that have happened and the horrible things we've said and done to each other...that we're here, together, today. Our friendship has made it through hell and we still wound up here."

His sad, blue eyes fill with relief and hope as he pulls me in for a desperate kiss. We continue our walk but his limp is getting worse. The sand shifting under his gate is causing his leg too much stress.

"Let's sit and watch the waves."

"I'm fine." He barks.

"Good for you but I'm tired of getting sand in my shoes."

I take a seat near a piece of driftwood, he sighs and joins me. We are both normally so independent and refuse to show any sign of weakness. We try to compensate for our insecurities but know just how obvious those issues are to the other one. Even as we try to hide under our carefully crafted armor we are naked in front of each other. It has taken years but we have learned a sort of peace with it.

His arm wraps around my back pulling me closer into his chest. In his arms is the only place I find to lean on another, to not be the one in charge...the one everyone else is looking at to lead. This is where he finds the confidence to show the tenderness of his heart. He would deny it to anyone else but here, in each other's arms is where we find our getaway.


End file.
